NCL's Maths

[KeithJenner]

So, we are booked on the Spirit at Christmas this year on a cruise just before a dry dock.

 

The cruise has been reduced from 12 to 11 days. I was half expecting something like this to happen, and don't have a problem with it. They offered us the choice of them booking us a hotel for the lost night or some OBC to cover it. Also the cruise fare will be pro-rated based on the revised itinerary. Quite fair I thought.

 

Anyway, a few weeks ago my fare was revised and after a bit of messing around due to a rogue charge appearing, I found that our cruise has gone down a total of £45 (£15 each)

 

My original fare per person was £1,465 and is now £1450.

 

I'm sure that even those people with a very basic understanding of maths would agree that this isn't a correct pro-rating of the fare to take account of losing one day in 12.

 

Anyway, I have been chasing up NCL for the past few weeks and finally made some progress in the last couple of days. I spoke to someone this morning who was going to look into it for me and come back. I've just received an email (sent, it seems, as the last thing she did before going on annual leave) saying that the calculation is correct.

 

I have to say that previously I have always had pretty good dealings with NCL's shore based teams (although I read many comments on here that suggest others haven't), so this is quite a new one on me. Any suggestions as to where I go from here? I have copied Vivian Ewart in on a couple of my chasing emails, although I haven't received anything back that is clearly from her team (although they may have been responsible for someone actually replying to my original email).

 

I have emailed by PCC (copying in Vivian) to say that I am not happy with the response I got and left a message on his answerphone. Any other ideas?

 

 

[Cruiser_1977]

@KeithJenner The itinerary is the same minus the one day/night? If my example below is correct I'd think you would be due more like £100 per person. 1465/12 = 122. I mean this is how it works for other things I've needed prorated. I would keep asking for the breakdown. Plus you would also get the port fees and taxes back from "L" unless it was a Sea Day.

 

Original      Port               New

Day 1          A                  same

Day 2         B                   same

Day 3         C                   same

Day 4         D                   same

Day 5         E                   same

Day 6         F                   same

Day 7        G                   same

Day 8        H                   same

Day 9         I                    same

Day 10      J                   same

Day 11      K                  same

Day 12      L                 cancelled

Edited September 13, 2019 by JennyB1977

[fabnfortysomething]

had to cancel October cruise on Star and only lost £100 deposit-check what your loss would be

 

And join us on April 9 cruise from Civitiveccia Greek isles and Italy!

 

[KeithJenner]

12 minutes ago, JennyB1977 said:

@KeithJenner The itinerary is the same minus the one day/night? If my example below is correct I'd think you would be due more like £100 per person. 1465/12 = 122. I mean this is how it works for other things I've needed prorated. I would keep asking for the breakdown. Plus you would also get the port fees and taxes back from "L" unless it was a Sea Day.

 

Original      Port               New

Day 1          A                  same

Day 2         B                   same

Day 3         C                   same

Day 4         D                   same

Day 5         E                   same

Day 6         F                   same

Day 7        G                   same

Day 8        H                   same

Day 9         I                    same

Day 10      J                   same

Day 11      K                  same

Day 12      L                 cancelled

Yes, that’s how I’ve worked it out. Ours is potentially complicated as about £150 of the fare is for free at sea and that is the same for a 11 or 12 night cruise, so that may not reduce, but still it should be over £100 each certainly.

 

Port fees may be refunded onboard.

[KeithJenner]

18 minutes ago, fabnfortysomething said:

had to cancel October cruise on Star and only lost £100 deposit-check what your loss would be

 

And join us on April 9 cruise from Civitiveccia Greek isles and Italy!

 

Yes, I think that the deposit would be about that, but to be honest if I were to cancel then I would just lose the CruiseNext voucher. In that circumstance I wouldn’t need it for any future bookings.

Edited September 13, 2019 by KeithJenner

[adam_s_allen]

I would love for NCL to show me a cruise I can get for £15 a day!

[VtMac]

If you add in the OBC or hotel cost, what is that pp?  

 

[SeaShark]

By the OP's logic, a 3-day cruise on the Sky should be 75% of the cost of a 4-day cruise on the Sky, however that doesn't seem to be reflected in reality.

 

By the same logic, a 14-day cruise on a ship should cost twice what a 7-day cruise costs...again, not generally reflected in reality.

 

Perhaps the disconnect comes from the premise prior to the math.

[KeithJenner]

11 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

By the OP's logic, a 3-day cruise on the Sky should be 75% of the cost of a 4-day cruise on the Sky, however that doesn't seem to be reflected in reality.

 

By the same logic, a 14-day cruise on a ship should cost twice what a 7-day cruise costs...again, not generally reflected in reality.

 

Perhaps the disconnect comes from the premise prior to the math.

By my logic, pro-Rata means pro-Rata.

 

Simple as that.

[KeithJenner]

12 minutes ago, VtMac said:

If you add in the OBC or hotel cost, what is that pp?  

 

The OBC works out at $100 per person, but that is a totally separate issue.

[KeithJenner]

Just to clarify, others on this cruise and the one following, which has also been refused by a day, have had their fares reduced by 1/12 (or the relevant proportion on the later cruise).

[Captain-John]

Definitely an uncharitable calculation. Certainly doesn't do anything to dispel the notion that NCL are after the $$. It must be an error... I hope.

Edited September 13, 2019 by Captain-John

[KeithJenner]

To further clarify, the email we received from NCL didn't say that the cruise fare would be adjusted based on comparative cruise fares, or current fares, or differences between market rates for 11 and 12 day cruises, or any such thing that people will dream up here just to make an argument and prove how supremely clever they are.

 

It said:

 

"the cruise fare will be pro-rated based on the revised itinerary length"

 

To pro-rata when something is reduced from 12 to 11, you reduce it by 1/12. That is what pro-rata means.

[Paul Bogle]

UK....Maths and Sport

 

USA..Math and Sports

 

I guess we know which we like more of.

[KeithJenner]

2 minutes ago, Birdie And Sue said:

Your (POOR) assumption is that the change of itinerary is the only factor that impacted the change in price. 

No assumption.

 

As I have previously stated, NCL clearly stated that they would pro-rata the fare based on the revised itinerary length. They have altered other people’s fares by 1/12.

 

I believe pro rata means the same thing in the US as it does in the U.K.

 

The only relevant thing which has changed since I booked is the length of the cruise. If other things have impacted the price in that time then that is NCLs issue, not mine.

 

They could have said something different in their email if that’s what they intended to do. they could have said that they would adjust the fare. They could have said it would just be repriced, but they said it would be pro-rated. That’s what they need to do.

 

[KeithJenner]

Just so people are clear. If you want to try to tell me that the refund should be anything other than 1/12 then don’t just ignore the word “pro-rated” in their email. If you do just ignore that bit then don’t expect a response from me.

 

If anyone can state another calculation and how that fits in with the words “pro-rata” then I would love to hear it. That is incidentally what I have asked NCL for. If there is such an explanation then I may well accept it (assuming it makes sense). However, the response has just been “the calculation is correct”. That just won’t do.

[smplybcause]

It sounds like the 14xx includes taxes/ fees/etc. The pro rated would be on the cruise only, but that would undoubtedly be more than 15. Did the other people that recieved more choose a different hotel option? 

 

[funredhead]

Just a thought... have you posted in your roll call to see what others on your cruise are experiencing?  I agree that the NCL Math is rather convenient to them. If only there were cruises for $15/pppn... and for a holiday cruise no less.  Best wishes to get a better resolution. 

 

[KeithJenner]

1 minute ago, smplybcause said:

It sounds like the 14xx includes taxes/ fees/etc. The pro rated would be on the cruise only, but that would undoubtedly be more than 15. Did the other people that recieved more choose a different hotel option? 

 

The £1.465 is just the cruise fare. It doesn’t include port fees, DSC etc

 

As I mentioned earlier,  the cruise fare does include the free at sea payment and I took that out when calculating what I expected the revised fare to be.

 

The other people who have had their fare correctly adjusted (which is pretty well everyone else on our roll calls), are mixed between people who took the OBC and the hotel.

[KeithJenner]

1 minute ago, funredhead said:

Just a thought... have you posted in your roll call to see what others on your cruise are experiencing?  I agree that the NCL Math is rather convenient to them. If only there were cruises for $15/pppn... and for a holiday cruise no less.  Best wishes to get a better resolution. 

 

Yes, after a few issues, just about everyone on the roll calls for both cruises seem to have the correct fares now.

 

[funredhead]

Are their adjustments in the same ballpark of 15?

[KeithJenner]

Just now, funredhead said:

Are their adjustments in the same ballpark of 15?

No, they are 1/12 (or the relevant proportion for the later cruise).

Edited September 13, 2019 by KeithJenner

[funredhead]

If you have a travel agent, I would go that route. If not perhaps one of the roll call people would be willing to share their documentation and you could send that along to NCL along with your request to appropriately adjust your fare. What a pain!  So sorry for the aggravation. 

[KeithJenner]

No travel agent (which is probably good as I don’t need to try to explain to them, and I’m happy to spend lots of time on the phone to NCL myself.

 

I have just posted on both roll calls to specifically ask if anyone has received anything other than the pro-rata refund as I would expect. I will certainly be taking that information to NCL.

[insidecabin]

have you compared to current pricing?

 

I saw on another thread where NCL prorata using the wrong base fares.

the cruise qualifies for the current 10% offer(not on sale away) and the free at sea gets 10% off as well.

taxes on the  11n are  £140pp

Edited September 13, 2019 by insidecabin